


White Noise

by ahappykappa



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Bitterness, Divorce, Mary loves Joseph but recognizes that he's problematic, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Oneshot, Protect Christie, There are more of his problematic aspects in this case, character exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 22:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12094878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahappykappa/pseuds/ahappykappa
Summary: Mary is struggling with a direction following the divorce.





	White Noise

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do something exploring Mary a little bit, as I found it was kind of hard to ascertain the nature of her relationship with the children in-game, so this is mostly speculation.   
> Thanks for reading! :)

“Now, you kids be good for your mother,” Joseph winked. “I'll miss you all very much. Let's get those goodbye kisses in, huh?”  
The twins giggled as he kissed their heads, not a golden hair out of place. “One for Christian, one for Christie, and one,” Joseph moved towards Chris, but his eldest son jerked away from him, turning red, “for Chris? No? Not one for Chris?”  
He frowned, but ruffled Chris’s hair and lifted Christie to kiss the tip of her nose. “Well, I guess that's an extra kiss for Christie, then!” He swung her around, making her squeal, and set her down again. He nearly kissed Mary out of habit and then backed away sheepishly in response to her quirked eyebrow, waving to the kids. “Bye-bye!”  
“Bye-bye,” they chorused nicely, waving as he closed the door behind him. Mary glanced towards her bedroom, where Crish was napping, and then back at the kids. She found them all watching her, directionless.  
“What is it?” she asked them, one hand propped on her hip.  
“What do we do now, Mom?” Christian asked.  
“What do you mean?” Mary frowned. “Just because your mom lives somewhere else now doesn't mean you need my permission to play. Go on. You brought some toys, didn’t you?”  
The kids hesitated, looking at each other now in quizzical silence.  
“If you're really looking for something to do, I have some dirty toilets for you to clean,” Mary smirked, and that made them all gasp and hurry to occupy themselves.

 

She had thought about kicking Joseph out of their home. She had kicked Joseph onto that stupid boat of his. But the difference between her and Joseph was that he could bear the emptiness when she and the children were gone. She had her suspicions about how. She had to drink the ghosts away before she was comfortable in that big, lonely house.  
Besides, she only had custody on weekends because of course she did. Because Joseph wouldn't settle for less. Because he'd wanted them full-time.

“You couldn't handle them and your fuckbuddies,” she'd sneered at him.  
“Neither could you!” He'd shot back so easily. Her blood had set to boiling.  
A roar, “I don't ever go home with anyone else!”  
It was the most impassioned they’d been in years. She’d checked on the twins on the way to bed and they’d broken her heart, pretending to be asleep.

She felt a natural pull towards the kitchen to pour a glass of wine, hoping to drown those memories to white noise.

 

Mary was curled on the sofa, lazily indulging in a paperback and a glass of wine while the kids played. She wondered if she were supposed to be doing something special with the kids. That was more Joseph’s thing- baking shit and family trips to the park and whatnot. Should she have made dinner instead of ordering pizza?   
A chorus of giggles trickled in from the kids’ makeshift bedroom. There wasn’t a lot of space in this new apartment, so for now, they were all camping out on the floor, but it was only temporary- after the divorce, she’d crashed on Robert’s couch with Betsy for a week before springing on a place she could stay from month-to-month until she could figure out what exactly it was that she wanted.  
She sipped from her glass and lowered the book. She hadn’t gotten to the “figuring it out” part just yet. She was certain that she loved her children, loved Robert, loved Damien. Loved Joseph, in a different way than she had loved him before. But what to make of those certainties in the face of the uncertainty that encompassed her future?  
Ugh. She took another drink and spotted Christie through her glass.  
“It’s time to call Dad,” her daughter said, pointing to the wall clock. It was nearly her bedtime. Mary sighed and dialed Joseph’s number before handing her cell phone to her. She watched Christie wander around the living room with the phone to her ear, glancing at Mary’s bookshelves and unpacked boxes still pushed in the corner. There weren’t pictures of the family like there were at home- Joseph’s home, now.   
That little pink dress was so Joseph’s style. Neat and clean and pressed to ultra-perfection. Maybe she would take her shopping so the family could finally stop looking like the fucking Brady Bunch.  
Christie’s eyes lit up. “Dad!” she cried.  
Mary could hear Joseph’s voice through the receiver. “Is that my little angel I hear? Calling to say goodnight?”  
“Yep,” she answered, smiling sweetly.  
Mary watched her daughter with guilt rising in her chest like bile. She hadn’t been home as often as Joseph had in their final months together- she was usually busy with work, and when she was kept out late, it was more tempting and ultimately easier to hit the bar than to come home, no matter how rotten she felt afterwards. Joseph was around a lot- he dressed the children, fed them, put them on the school bus, and helped with their homework. Mary had been much closer to them in the past, but her duties with the children were strongly geared towards Crish nowadays.  
Christie had always been especially close to Joseph, though, which bothered her in a way she could only chalk up to the aggressive need to provide her daughter with a strong female role model.  
“Goodnight, Dad.”  
“Goodnight; sleep tight; don’t let the bedbugs bite!”  
Christie giggled as Joseph hung up. Mary wondered if he had someone over as Christie brought her phone back to her.  
“Thank you,” she said, and she started back towards the kids’ room when Mary interrupted her.  
“C’mere, Christie,” she said, setting aside her book and the wineglass. Christie obediently crawled onto the couch next to her. “If you could do anything in the world right now, what would it be?”

 

“That pony just made off with that other pony’s ribbon,” Mary said, tipping her wineglass at the TV. “Why isn’t she going after her?”  
“I’ve seen this one before,” Christie said, brushing the cut-up hair of her sparkly plastic pony doll. “They have to talk about it. She asks her why she stole it and then they make up.”  
“That’s dumb.”  
“Dad said it’s what Jesus would do.”  
“Listen, kid, have you ever heard the story about Jesus in the temple marketplace, throwing over tables? Sometimes it’s okay to beat someone up if they wronged you.”  
“It is?” Christie quirked a brow, smiling.  
“Of course it is. And then you’ve gotta scare them so they don’t hurt you anymore,” she added, gathering her daughter into her arms and ruffling her hair. Christie laughed and squirmed, kicking the pony to the floor. She smiled up at her.  
“When Christian and I scare people, they run away,” she affirmed.  
“And you learned from the best. If someone is intimidated by you, who needs them?”  
She sighed, laying her cheek against her daughter’s soft, pale hair. Christie closed her eyes, snaking her arms securely around her.  
“There are going to be people who are scared of you, Christie, and they might also be scared of themselves. They might not know how to admit who they are. You may be surprised when you finally find out who they are, too.” Christie’s eyes turned up to her. She looked so much like Joseph that Mary had to look away. “But it’s important to always stay strong. Sometimes, you might need to be scary. But hey, that’s what we do to survive out there.”  
Christie’s smile was soft. Mary hugged her back closely and kissed the top of her head, suddenly fiercely protective. “I’m gonna teach you all about how to stick it to the man.”  
“Who’s The Man?”  
“You’ll know him when you see him.”


End file.
